Big Star

“Play it for me guitarist”

ilxor tylerw:

nearly half of the setlist is made up of covers, including tunes by the Kinks, Loudon Wainwright III and T. Rex. Perhaps the most interesting of these is the only (as far as I know) known Big Star version of the Velvet Underground’s “Candy Says.” Remarkable that, along with his later cover of “Femme Fatale,” Chilton was so tuned in to the softer side of Lou Reed’s songwriting at this point in the 70s. Most of the proto-punk/punk scene focused on the other extreme of his stuff, right?

At least once, also covered "The Bed" (but as he says, "no tape has emerged"---has it?)

Started to doubt myself about this factoid but here’s where I got it — holly George warren’s Chilton bio. pic.twitter.com/vktevlinm4

— Tyler Wilcox (@tywilc) March 31, 2022

Here's some anecdotal evidence that he may not even have known about some of the other side of Lou Reed's songwriting:

"Sweet Jane" was already becoming a bit of standard among those 'in the know' in those pre-Rock'n'Roll Animal days: Mott The Hoople recorded it at Bowie's urging as the opening cut on All The Young Dude's, and I was recently reminded the Brownsville Station included it on Yeah! (the album which gave us "Smokin' In The Boy's Room").

Wow at Brownsville Station. Mitch Ryder was apparently into Loaded, believe he covered something off of it, "Rock & Roll" maybe.

Then the Runaways borrowed his arrangement for their version.

XP Yeah, "Rock & Roll" on the Detroit album:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mag6jxiHXXk

Steve Hunter on guitar and Bob Ezrin producing.

Yes, was just reading about that connection.

yeah, that's a good album---I always liked Ryder more than xgau, and I'd give this an A minus:

Detroit [Paramount, 1971]
Despite the old strain and stridency, the way Mitch Ryder swells with an infusion of the Host upon contact with a Wilson Pickett song is more welcome than ever. So is former Detroit Wheel Johnny Bee--these days any drummer who can play rock and roll without turning into some machine is a precious resource. And whoever told Mitch to put Ron Davies's "It Ain't Easy," Chuck Berry's "Let It Rock," and the Velvet Underground's "Rock 'n Roll" on the same album wins a James Taylor dartboard. B+

Seems like Brownsville Station could have done Chilton & Co. a solid and covered "Don't Lie To Me".

Pulled out my vinyl Yeah! and their "SJ" cover has a chiming electric guitar part straight out of "September Gurls" while Alex may have appreciated them marrying "Barefootin'" to a T. Rex "Bang A Gong"-style riff.

From Dave Marsh’s Lou obit:

So I turn around about the third time I’m playing the tracks back to back, top volume on those huge speakers we had (the floor speakers in the huge square cabinets, ElectroVoice maybe?) and there stands Johnny B, Mitch Ryder’s great drummer and one of my mentors in how to listen and what to listen to. And he’s doing one of his B things–Stewart will know what I mean, with his jaw dropping and his fingers poppin’–because Mitch’s rehearsal upstairs had just ended. And then the rest of the band comes in and we are all standing there with our brains in tatters.

Six months later, I’m sitting at a table at the Waldorf, some room where Mitch is doing an debut party for his Detroit, and they hit “Rock’n’Roll,” which they’d worked up about a day after first hearing it. We were sitting right up front, and Lou leans over from across the table next to us and says, “That’s what that song was supposed to sound like.”

Was trying to remember that story, thanks!

lou borrowed Detroit's guitarist for rock'n'roll animal.

Producer too, if I read C. Grisso/ McCain’s post correctly.

Yeah, Ezrin brought in Hunter and another Detroit (this case, city, not Mitch's band) guitarist, Dick Wagner, to play on Berlin and then the Rock N Roll Animal tour + album. Wagner was leader of the Frost, holding their own between Stooges, MC5 etc., but one prob may have been that they were on Vanguard. Also good with Ursa Major, which incl. Billy Joel early on, then a guy from Amboy Dukes.
Ryder quoted Reed's comment in his often scary and scarry autobio, but I didn't repeat it because hadn't seen verification.
Bringing it back to Chilton, he and Ryder both settled into working the oldies band and solo newies circuits: "Time to make another $9000 album for Germany," Ryder cheerfully announced to an interviewer. Europe has been his base for a long time.

So about this new Guided By Voices song.

I like it. Pollard’s output has been generally strong with this latest lineup.

Why talk about it here? Not policing, just curious.

It's a tribute to Big Star called "Alex Bell".

The title kind of broke my brane.

Ha, it took me seeing the 7" cover art to actually understand the title.

I assume he wanted to avoid confusion with the former Hull City striker.

https://www.programmecollector.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/book_chillo.jpeg.jpeg

a musical tribute to alex trebek and kristen bell

https://dangerousminds.net/comments/the_classic_big_star_songs_that_arent_big_star_but_a_studio_project_du

I love the whole record, but those three songs are certainly Radio City highlights. It's hard to imagine the record without them.

Wow, never knew! Also hilarious to picture Chilton pointing to a Dolby Noise Reduction button or switch and saying "what's this Dolby fucker do?" That's like a perfect throwaway line in a Coen brothers movie.

Who would ever have thought that the personnel on a Big Star album was somewhat ambiguous?

also: that big photo from three months ago-doctor, my eyes!

whoa! At least “What’s Going Ahn” is a co-write with Hummel.

Thanks! & good to know about the book they quote:

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/31ZTkHuWLgL.jpg

of course, Third/Sister Lovers is all over the place, and Complete Third omg duhhh, but even/especially that is *going* all over the place, with own sort of momentum.

Oh, speaking of Stones as packrats, try Metamorphosis.

That book is good.

It always amazes me how often Terry Manning shows up in different contexts. Just the other day was revisiting the fact that he engineered Hot Buttered Soul.

Sorry, my last two posts were meant for Major 'informal' albums

you forgot to add #onethread #pvmic

xxpost Manning also worked on Led Zeppelin III at Ardent:
https://www.memphisflyer.com/remembering-led-zeppelin-iii-generations-of-memphians-affected-by-album

or rather "mixed and mastered at Ardent," with TM also engineering some overdubs.

Well I said he worked on it yeah did all that

I’d told Chris to stay away, but he couldn’t help it. He came by sheepishly, with a bottle of wine. So we let him in, and Jimmy and Chris and I hung out. We listened to Gimmer Nicholson all night. And Ali Akbar Khan.

Was Richard Rosebrough etc not always credited on the album?

mine's a repress but he has a writer's credit for "mod lang"

original side B label
https://i.discogs.com/SbWXndkZDowKOzSr6RJqmoTUmzdywFQDGVs-kcCsddU/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:597/w:600/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTM4Mzkw/NjctMTM0NjQzMDQ1/Mi0zMDY2LmpwZWc.jpeg

Jody interviewed by a lil nipper for Nippertown: totally charming, v. informative:

Jody chats with Ellie Everywhere!https://t.co/G1srdyCS9z

— Big Star (@BigStarBand) July 18, 2022

Wow, hooray for my local blog! And I briefly freaked out thinking Jody Stephens had played here recently and I somehow missed it.

R.I.P. John King. Co-founder of Ardent Records & a brilliant promo man from Memphis music's golden era, he helped build the legend of Big Star (coming up with the idea for the 1973 Rock Writers Convention). Here's a look at his colorful life and legacy. https://t.co/SDn63gPOnF

— Bob Mehr (@BobMehr) August 2, 2022

Good story, Bob Mehr does it again. But why were Big Star albums so hard to find? I read plenty about them, but the only ones I ever saw, decades before the Line twofer CD and Ryko series, were vinyl promos, sold for 99 cents (somebody beat me to them, going back from the magazine rack to the bargain bin).

We were both reading Creem that day...

I think the Caropop podcast with Jody talks about this, but the first album was sabotaged by Stax's shitty deal with CBS Records. Clive Davis made the deal, then was famously fired for misuse of company funds, and the people who took over didn't give a shit about Stax - to them it was like, "why should we spend a dime on them? We should be using that money for OUR R&B acts." Stax tried to get out the CBS deal, but in perverse fashion, CBS refused because they also didn't want Stax to sign with another big label and become direct competitors. (Makes Mo Ostin's passing feel all the more sad - he really was one of a kind.)

I forgot what happened with the third album, but I think by then the money wasn't there for anybody (they were no longer under CBS's control) and I don't think they believed they had a profitable record either so they might've balked at spending too much of what little money they had left.

I should say the first TWO albums were sabotaged by the CBS deal.